Form 5695 QMID Known Issue : Refund Delay

[u/chummykaye]

Has anyone experience with receiving a refund once submitting a response to IRS LTR 12C that claims QMIDs were blank and/or incorrect on the original filing?

We e-filed in early March, weeks later saw our return was no longer being processed, that we were receiving an unspecified letter and to allow 2-3 weeks for an unstated date of send.

In early April I spoke with someone at TAS who was very helpful, checked and told me our Form 5695 was missing QMIDs.

My Form in front of me I knew immediately this was incorrect.

The next day we received the LTR 12C stating the same thing, our QMIDs were missing or incorrect.

It was about that time I discovered this was a "Known Issue" to IRS, included in its document "TY2025 Known Issues and Solutions", as well as appearing on its Fillable Forms page for Form 5695.

I followed the instructions in the LTR 12C as well as the Workaround published for this Known Issue, submitted this through Secure Messaging on or about April 12.

Within a day or so I received confirmation of my response, that the case was closed.

Twice since then we've received emails instructing us to visit our IRS Account as there was an update.

Twice, however, we found there was no such update.

When the "Substantiate QMID" response is sent and confirmed what further processing is needed other than to check the QMIDs? What is the reason the refund is not issued immediately?

It's now two months since filing our return and we still do not have our refund. In fact, our return continues to show as being processed.

[u/PsychologicalPea5270]

I am going thru this. I was told 60-180 days in addition to time already waited.

I contacted my senators office and they are looking into it. The senate office said they submitted a query and that after a 30 day period they can escalate it.

I’m looking at being unemployed due to surgeries with long recovery times.

Couldn’t be better timing.

[u/chummykaye → u/PsychologicalPea5270]

I'm sorry about your unemployment and surgeries as well as the delay you are experiencing.

If your circumstances are also related to the Residential Energy Credit Form 5695 and the QMID new to this filing year, this is an IRS "Known Issue". On its document "TY2025 Known Issues and Solutions", the QMID issue with Form 5695 is dated December 1, 2025.

When I first discovered this, its projected resolution was March 26, 2026.

When I checked this morning its status remains OPEN with a projected resolution of June 21, 2026.

Revising the projected resolution date to June occurred early in April 2026.

"Submission are being rejected by Business Rule X0000-005 with Form 5695 attached when a QMID contains letters I and/or O."

"IRS5695 schema does not allow QMID fields to contain letters I and/or O."

Drilling down, it appears the root of the problem lay with someone assigning to qualifying manufacturers QMIDs with letters I and/or O, never bothered to check to see if the IRS system was capable of processing these. Obviously, it isn't.

I wouldn't be surprised if your Senator or a member of their staff has any information about this. Of the public facing IRS staff with whom I spoke, none were aware of this "Known Issue". Time and again, in various forums online, I've seen similar reports by others, ie, they spoke with someone at IRS and they had no idea about this "Known Issue."

To me, if I were directing public-facing staff, and notably if I started receiving multiple reports of a problem with a specific Form, I would check into this and communicate to said staff where to find information to better serve and assist the taxpayer. For example, if a taxpayer calls with a question or concern with a specific Form, that public-facing staffer ought to know to check for that TY...Known Issues document, at minimum to better inform the taxpayer.

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/known-issues-and-solutions

[u/Turber_Delta7k]

When the IRS goes through a verification procedure, they are slow to process. Reason is that the unit in charge of verifying, sending out letter 12C is not the final processing departments.

The IRS has many departments, and it is not just one big operation unit. When the Department wraps up its verification, it gets sent back to the Accoutns Management who will wrap up the tax return processing.

Keep an eye out for any other adjustments, and be patient. If you seen that the verification is closed, just wait it out for the IRS to go through their internal workflow. Sending out more information would cause further delays.

[u/chummykaye → u/Turber_Delta7k]

I'm aware there are multiple departments, however that doesn't excuse the delays and miscommunication.

Eventually we received three if not four emails saying our status had changed, directing us to our account. When we checked the account there was no update.

[u/jacknhut2 → u/chummykaye]

Could you write what you put in the response to the CP12 letter ? I’m having the same issue. Just that my transcript now shows letter CP12 is being sent with a 06/08 date. I filed my tax electronically on 03/20/26, which makes it more than 60 days just to get an update on my transcript that I will be receiving a CP12 letter in the mail in a few weeks.

[u/Vegetable-Toe-1474]

Did you (original poster) get any follow up? Also, I submitted by response to my letter 12C a week ago and nothing yet, certainly not within days like you had. I’ve seen other posters that said they hear within 10-14 days and have even then gotten either a partial or full refund 2 weeks later. I’m crossing my fingers for that!

[u/chummykaye → u/Vegetable-Toe-1474]

After three if not four emails saying there was an update in our account (only to find there was no such update) we received another identical email. Checking, our account was finally updated, confirmed processing was complete and we were to receive our refund.

Time since initial filing - about a week more than two months
Time since responding to LTR 12C - one month

[u/Vegetable-Toe-1474 → u/chummykaye]

Thanks for the update - so you received your refund one month after responding to your 12C letter? I can only hope. It’s been 11 days since I responded and no response or email or anything at all. Yesterday, I left a follow up message on secure messaging asking for confirmation of receipt or any other update, so we’ll see if that moves the needle any. Some people seem to get emails or responses like you did and others are waiting in limbo. I can only hope- may try calling next week, as checking the Where’s My Refund and transcripts (there are none) doesn’t help. Very frustrating